Get ready to start checking out the "Fuckability" index of some seriously depressed TV characters. Gary Shteyngart's depressing, hilarious book Super Sad True Love Story is going to be a TV series — with Ben Stiller executive-producing, and directing a bunch of episodes. »2/10/15 4:40pm 2/10/15 4:40pm

With so many prominent scientists warning about the dangers of rogue artificial intelligence, and so many ethical concerns coming down the pike in A.I. research and computer science generally, how can computer experts educate themselves? By reading science fiction books. »1/29/15 2:20pm 1/29/15 2:20pm

Not long ago, it seemed like every literary author was doing a book about the apocalypse, possibly involving zombies or werewolves. But now, there's a new wave of beloved authors tackling our bewilderment with the internet-dominated world we live in. »9/19/13 3:40pm 9/19/13 3:40pm

In his novel Super Sad True Love Story, Gary Shteyngart writes about a society, five minutes into the future, that has a weird neurotic relationship with gadgets and social media, as focused through a device called an "äppärät." Now, Shteyngart has tried the Google Glass, and in many ways the future he wrote about… »7/29/13 1:28pm 7/29/13 1:28pm

Nowadays, everybody says that science fiction has stopped talking about Big Ideas. Science fiction used to be the genre that asked the huge questions, about who we are and where we're going. But somehow, people say, the genre lost its appetite for deep thoughts. »7/27/12 10:00am 7/27/12 10:00am

If a computer could pair you up with a perfect mate, would you want its advice? If an artificial intelligence could train you to woo the partner of your dreams, would you seek its wisdom? What if technologies were better at finding and attracting the object of your ideal romance than you were? What if they already are? »7/01/12 9:00am 7/01/12 9:00am

Some people's futures are determined by popular vote: American Idol contestants, class presidents, and people who want to get gay married in California. But what if every aspect of our lives was determined by our reputation and popularity? Would our futures be better, or would the tyranny of the popular spin us into… »2/04/12 10:00am 2/04/12 10:00am

There's only one thing we know for sure about the future: It'll be weird, and you can't really prepare for it. Just imagine trying to tell someone in 2000 how to prepare for life in 2011. But luckily, there's one surefire way to brace yourself for another round of future shock: by reading a slew of great satires,… »12/13/11 10:48am 12/13/11 10:48am

There's a curiously wide-eyed article from the New York Times, about some recent science fiction novels that have uncannily come true, which is making the rounds online. Are science fiction novelists really predicting the future after all? »9/05/11 12:40pm 9/05/11 12:40pm

Gary Shteyngart's Super Sad True Love Story is one of the most talked-about novels of the year — but it's also a genuinely impressive piece of dystopian satire. Anyone who wants to see clever near-future worldbuilding should check it out. »9/21/10 12:57pm 9/21/10 12:57pm

We're in the middle of a flood of literary novels that play with science fiction ideas right now. What's causing it? And how can science fiction benefit from all of this fresh energy? »9/02/10 4:41pm 9/02/10 4:41pm

Gary Shteyngart, author of the hit novel Super Sad True Love Story, tells the L.A. Times he wanted to set his novel after the collapse of the United States. But the disaster scenarios he came up with kept coming true. »8/09/10 2:00pm 8/09/10 2:00pm